The economic changes associated with the modern world are tremendous. This course began studying societies that were mostly self-sufficient. But commercial or mercantile capitalism created networks of trade across the globe and vast accumulations of wealth among some, and then industrial capitalism transformed the productive process, creating new types of labor and new types of riches. And now the food and clothing we rely on in our daily lives is the product of a global process. What have been the benefits of this transformation? What have been some of the social and environmental costs?

The economic changes associated with the modern world are tremendous. This course began studying societies that were mostly self-sufficient. But commercial or mercantile capitalism created networks of trade across the globe and vast accumulations of wealth among some, and then industrial capitalism transformed the productive process, creating new types of labor and new types of riches. And now the food and clothing we rely on in our daily lives is the product of a global process. What have been the benefits of this transformation? What have been some of the social and environmental costs?